Premise
by Afuhfuihgs
The moment I met Roel’s eyes as he came to the club room, all the worries about what to say when I met Roel disappeared from my head.
It wasn’t anger over him taking everything from me, nor was it sympathy for the protagonist who never gave up despite remembering everyone’s death, but I was just curious why Roel, who should be spending a happy winter vacation with his lovers, had come to find me.
I smiled, opened the half-open door wide, and stepped aside slightly.
“Come in.”
“Thanks.”
Roel came into the club room and sat in a nearby seat. Sitting across from him, I started by saying this.
“So, what’s up?”
Roel smiled, pretending not to notice the meaning of my words, which implied that I wanted to get straight to the point. The action was so natural that it had the effect of lowering the other person’s guard.
“I thought Professor Lycan’s special training was over, so I came to see my little brother’s face.”
Roel looked straight at me and continued.
“Long hair suits you. Thanks to that, your impression has changed a lot, so I was surprised at first.”
He said that, but Roel’s expression didn’t change much. It was only a subtle change that was hard to notice unless you looked closely.
I replied with an appropriate remark.
“The training was quite tough.”
“I know, I’ve experienced Professor Lycan’s special training too.”
Roel nodded as if he agreed, and raised one arm onto the table with a smile.
“I went on a trip to a resort in the south with Flavia and Ilia. It was a really good time.”
Roel probably didn’t come to me just to brag. Just as Roel was hiding his true colors and beating around the bush, I also hid my true feelings and continued with appropriate replies.
“Sounds nice.”
“Yeah, I recommend you go with Luna before the vacation ends. Flavia has connections with the hotels in the resort, so if you ask her, you can make a reservation anytime.”
I can feel Roel’s sincerity in wanting to take care of his younger brother in his voice. It felt hypocritical that Roel, who has memories of killing countless Rosses in other worlds, was taking care of me, but I could tell that the sincerity in his voice was not a lie either.
I answered with a bitter smile.
“…Yeah, thanks.”
“It’s nothing, really.”
Roel waved his hand as if it was nothing and continued naturally.
“So, has anything special happened lately?”
For a moment, I had the illusion that Roel’s blue eyes flashed. My head cooled down instantly as if I had been splashed with ice water. I felt like I knew why Roel had come, the reason for his visit, with that last question.
With the help of Ross of Yearning, I obtained the essence of magic through a quantum jump. Roel, who steals my feelings and all my experiences regardless of my will, couldn’t possibly not be curious about the source of the knowledge about magic that suddenly flowed in.
Perhaps he came to check in person because he thought there might be a variable that would ruin his plan to save everyone.
If so, I had two choices. Either explain falsely about obtaining the essence of magic, or hide the fact that I had obtained knowledge about magic altogether.
The choice for me, a born liar, was as good as decided. Hiding the fact that I had gained knowledge of magic would definitely attract Roel’s attention.
But the latter choice wasn’t bad either. It was a choice I would have made if I didn’t know that Roel was parasitizing me.
He would know that I was lying, but he wouldn’t suspect that I had found out his secret.
Both choices had their own advantages. But I wanted to check. Whether my lie would work on the current Roel. Whether Roel could really trust the words of the brother he had killed countless times.
A lie has a peculiar property. If you fill most of the story with truth and mix in a very small lie, the lie is diluted by the truth and appears to be true.
Sometimes, even forgetting makes you forget that the lie has been diluted, and you often end up believing that it is really the truth.
Of course, a real liar never confuses his lies. It’s just that he believes it’s true to him because it’s a lie.
I opened my mouth as soon as I came up with a suitable excuse. The most important thing in a lie is not to give the other person the impression that you are thinking about something.
“Something very special happened. You’ll be surprised too, hyung-nim.”
When I said that with a smile, Roel smiled along with me.
“You say that, so I’m curious?”
Seeing Roel’s expression, as if he was genuinely curious and telling me to tell him quickly, I skillfully blurted out a lie without going through my brain.
“Do you know Navia? She’s the successor of the Perlkus family in the north, and she’s in the same first-year combat department as me.”
Roel narrowed his eyes and recalled for a moment, then nodded with a smile.
“Yeah, I remember getting greetings from her from time to time. She felt like a junior who was working hard in school.”
“After the training with Professor Lycan-seuseung-nim was over, I had some time left, so I went to see Lake Zairen with Navia. She said it was the most beautiful place in the north and that I had to visit it if I came to the north, so I followed her.”
As I spoke, I watched Roel non-stop. There was no sign that he doubted my words. Without any subtle changes, Roel was just leaning his upper body slightly towards me, concentrating on the story like a child listening to an exciting story.
“While walking, I found a tree that could go to the bottom of the lake. When I went under that tree, I found something like an old aqueduct.”
I added an explanation to avoid leaving even a little bit of doubt.
“Actually, before going to the north, I looked at books about the legends of the north in the forbidden section of the library. There was also a legend related to Lake Zairen there.”
As expected of Roel, who has a setting of liking adventures, when the story of the legend came out, he made an interesting expression and murmured, “Hoo,” then asked me with a puzzled voice.
“It would have been difficult to enter the forbidden section of the library even with Professor Lycan’s permission.”
“I got permission to enter the forbidden section from Headmaster Nelson before that.”
Roel made an exaggeratedly surprised expression.
“Really? Headmaster Nelson must cherish you quite a bit.”
“…I’m always grateful that he sees me in a good light.”
“Hmm, so you went to Lake Zairen on purpose?”
“Not on purpose. It was literally a legend. I just happened to find a tree leading to the bottom of the lake while looking around with the thought that maybe it was there.”
Roel smiled faintly at my answer. It was such a faint smile that I couldn’t tell whether he believed my explanation or doubted it.
“Anyway, when Navia and I went to the bottom of Lake Zairen, there was an ancient aqueduct like in the book, and at the end of it, there were fairies living there.”
“Fairies… Do you know anything about the Fairy King?”
I was speechless at the sudden question. It’s a question whose intention I can’t grasp. But Roel’s gaze was watching me as if he was going to observe even my subtle changes, just like I had done a moment ago. Was it a question to test my reaction?
Fortunately, I didn’t show any embarrassment on the outside. It was such an unexpected question that stabbed me in a strange place that I couldn’t even react, which would be the right explanation. I lowered my voice a little.
“Just that Bella’s staff is the Fairy King’s staff? I found out when I saved Bella from the last cult attack.”
“…”
Roel didn’t answer. He just looked at me with a smile. I didn’t avoid such Roel and smiled and stared back. When we both closed our mouths, the friendly atmosphere that we had intentionally made light easily subsided.
What broke the silence between us was the noise from the closet.
“Hey, I cooked you food, and you’re not even cleaning up, where are you running off to….”
Kane, who was coming over the closet, found Roel sitting across from me and trailed off. Then, with an unnecessary cough, he greeted Roel with a bright face.
“Hello! I’m Kane, Ross’s closest and dearest friend!”
Roel answered Kane’s greeting with a bright smile, as if he had never been silent.
“Hello, it’s been a while. Your name was Kane, right?”
Kane grinned, as if he was happy that Roel remembered him.
“It looks like you’re in the middle of a conversation, but would you like me to bring out some tea if you’re okay with it?”
“I’d be grateful if you would.”
Saying that, Roel turned his gaze to me. Following that gaze, Kane also looked at me. I sighed faintly at the gazes of the two people fixed on my face and nodded.
“I’ll take one too.”
“Okay, wait a minute.”
Kane headed to the kitchen, which was located in the corner of the club room, with hasty movements and started making tea by filling a kettle with water.
Kane’s reaction to finding Roel is not exaggerated. Rather, it was close to a natural reaction for a Transcendence student. Roel is currently the most famous person in the capital. He was the youngest Transcendentalist and a student who had never missed the top spot in the academy where the talents of the continent gathered.
He has no sharp edges and doesn’t show off. Roel had already been highly regarded by the people around him for his correct behavior and handsome appearance even before he became a Transcendentalist.
Now, even the seniors were sending Roel, who saved the capital from the cult’s attack, looks of respect. It’s only natural to try to look good to such a person if he’s a friend’s brother.
Kane, who brewed the black tea, put teacups in front of me and Roel. Then he patted me on the shoulder and winked. It meant that he would leave the seat discreetly.
Kane, who made the tea, went back to the island beyond the closet. The tea in the teacup was lemon balm tea. It seems he used the one he bought last time and put in the drawer.
Roel, who took a sip of tea, said with a smiling face as usual.
“The tea is hot. It’s okay if the story gets long.”
I turned my gaze in a subtle direction at the gaze that seemed to be trying to see through my insides. Suddenly, the saying that lemon balm tea is good for mental health came to my mind, so I took a sip of tea too.
It didn’t seem to have any immediate effect.
“Actually, I killed the Fairy King with my own hands yesterday.”
At the words that popped out of nowhere, the hand that was putting down the teacup stopped in the air for a moment. Because of that, the hot tea overflowed and soaked my hand, but I couldn’t feel the pain of the burn at Roel’s words that he had killed the Fairy King.
That’s because the Fairy King is in the latter half of the story. He was Roel’s companion who gave great help in the fight against the Demon King.
Simply because fairies live at the bottom of the lake, Lake Zairen has tremendous vitality.
The Fairy King was a being that helped all living things on the continent to the extent that he could replace the empty seat of the World Tree just by his existence.
I couldn’t understand why Roel, who would know that better than anyone else, killed the Fairy King at this point.
No, the speculations that came to mind were so absurd that I wanted to deny them.
With a chill rising in my chest, I asked without looking at Roel’s face, with a voice that stiffened without me knowing.
“…Why?”
“Because I judged that I needed that power right away.”
There was no wavering in Roel’s voice as he said that.
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